40 pages • 1 hour read
Robert BrowningMy Last Duchess
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1842A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Reading Comprehension Answers
1. B. Robert Browning was highly lauded for perfecting the form of the dramatic monologue, and “My Last Duchess” is one of his most famous of such poems.
2. C. Toward the end of the poem it is revealed that the listener is an emissary of a count; the duke seeks the count’s daughter’s hand in marriage.
3. A. The duchess is the most recent of the speaker’s wives, but she is deceased; over the course of the poem, the duke seemingly reveals his hand in bringing about her death, and his reasons for doing so. He is also planning on marrying again, so “last” simply means the most recent.
4. C. The poem opens with the duke talking about a portrait of his last duchess and concludes with him pointing out a rare bronze sculpture of Neptune taming a sea-horse.
5. A. That the duchess was easily pleased and impressed, thus displaying a lack of discretion, was the root of the Duke’s displeasure with her.
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